Founder/Managing Partner
Honor Society
1) This past year has confirmed for me that whatever the changes and challenges are, great talent and work still stands out. We continue see great creative and work with creative partners/collaborators that excite and push us. Sure, we have to work harder to deliver for the smaller budgets, but we are up to the challenge.
2) I think that we are going to continue to see changes in the business, with the overall state of the industry remaining in flux for quite some time to come. Companies will continue to think about business models differently: brands, agencies, production companies and any hybrid in between will all continue to seek better solutions to succeed in creating great content that leads to measurable and lasting impact, both from a business and cultural POV.
3) We are still a young company, but we have found ourselves lucky enough to continue to grow in this fluctuating environment and have had the creative opportunities to take on work that helps us flourish as a company and challenge and grow our directors. We also want to continue to further drive important discussions forward surrounding diversity and women’s leadership within the industry.
4) The work that we are doing on the entertainment front is really beginning to develop and we are really excited about taking on more projects that look at telling branded stories through more than just short form content.
5) Diversity and equality are extremely important to our company, and as one of the founding members of OWNED, a global coalition of women-owned companies in the advertising production industry, I really strive to drive the conversation forward surrounding women leadership and ownership in this industry. I also feel it’s important how we rethink our workplaces to make the lives of all of our employees better, encouraging a healthier work/life blend. As a company, we have also made a pledge to make sure 30% or more of our crews are made up of women and we aim to continue to help foster female talent across all aspects of commercial production.
Google Opens Its Defense In Antitrust Case Alleging Monopoly Over Online Ad Technology
Google opened its defense against allegations that it holds an illegal monopoly on online advertising technology Friday with witness testimony saying the industry is vastly more complex and competitive than portrayed by the federal government.
"The industry has been exceptionally fluid over the last 18 years," said Scott Sheffer, a vice president for global partnerships at Google, the company's first witness at its antitrust trial in federal court in Alexandria.
The Justice Department and a coalition of states contend that Google built and maintained an illegal monopoly over the technology that facilitates the buying and selling of online ads seen by consumers.
Google counters that the government's case improperly focuses on a narrow type of online ads — essentially the rectangular ones that appear on the top and on the right-hand side of a webpage. In its opening statement, Google's lawyers said the Supreme Court has warned judges against taking action when dealing with rapidly emerging technology like what Sheffer described because of the risk of error or unintended consequences.
Google says defining the market so narrowly ignores the competition it faces from social media companies, Amazon, streaming TV providers and others who offer advertisers the means to reach online consumers.
Justice Department lawyers called witnesses to testify for two weeks before resting their case Friday afternoon, detailing the ways that automated ad exchanges conduct auctions in a matter of milliseconds to determine which ads are placed in front of which consumers and how much they cost.
The department contends the auctions are finessed in subtle ways that benefit Google to the exclusion of would-be competitors and in ways that prevent... Read More